TWO COUNTY RADIO DRAMAS WIN INTERNATIONAL AWARDS

Every Now and Then Theatre's 2007 radio adaptation of Charles Dickens' "Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story" has won an International Davey Gold Award for radio entertainment. The show was celebrity hosted by actor Lane Davies and starred Keith Hurt from Camarillo as Scrooge. The troupe's 2007 Halloween radio version of Washington Irving's "Sleepy Hollow: The Lost Diaries" has won an International Davey Silver Award for radio entertainment. That show was celebrity hosted by Malcolm McDowell and starred Bob Decker from Camarillo. Both broadcasts aired on AM 1520 KVTA and were streamed worldwide on their website. Earlier this year, both dramas won International OMNI Awards and Sleepy Hollow picked up an International Communicator Award, all for radio entertainment.

According to Linda Day at the Davey Awards, the Davey honors outstanding creative work from the best small firms worldwide, where strength comes from ideas, intelligence and out-of-the-box thinking, not a giant’s bankroll. The 2008 Davey Awards received more than 4,000 entries. The Davey is judged and overseen by the International Academy of the Visual Arts (IAVA), and underwritten by Advertising Age.

Both Every Now and Then Theatre radio dramas were co-directed by Linda M. Stiegler of Thousand Oaks and troupe founder James M. Wortman of Ventura. Productions were made possible with resource donations from New Era Debt Solutions for script printing, Conejo Valley Community Church and Bill's Bar in Camarillo for performance spaces, Barkerductions and the former Stage 6 Productions for gear, and AM 1520 KVTA for air time.

The all-volunteer Every Now and Then Theatre, founded in 1990, produces dramas exclusively for broadcast. Productions are unique in how they are cast and performed. First, top local actors are mixed with beginners. Second, each countywide cast is allowed only one read-through, then they perform.. One-quarter to one-third of participants are new each time. The troupe now counts 20 awards-- 3 national and 17 international-- since first entering competitions in 2003.